The evils of commuting
With the idea of working from home still only vaguely achievable for many of us, the daily commute is very much part of our lives. As the Celtic tiger continues its progress only slightly abated, the numbers of cars on Irish roads is increasing annually.
To those of us lucky enough to live near a railway line there is the somewhat more sedate daily ritual of train travel. It is by and large a more relaxing way to commute; there is, however, one major flaw. The commute to the commute, if you know what I mean. Train travellers have to get to train stations and very often that task alone can cause more hassle than the daily drive.
Clive Sinclair, Sir, to give him his full title, is a gadget guru. Better known to the more mature gadgeteer, his ranking in gadget charts would only be second to the God of gadgets, Dyson. Sinclair first came to prominence in the mid-seventies when he produced the electric bobsleigh, not its true name, but the best description I can think of.
The Sinclar C5 was meant to revolutionise commuting, an overnight electric charge gave the C5 enough power to take the average office worker to and from work in comfort. The sitting position was good, but the height was laughable. Sitting in the C5 gave one the ability to read the tyre walls of the cars in the lane beside you. High enough to fit a grown commuter, but low enough to be invisible to even the most eagleeyed motorist, the C5 did not last very long. It is now a collector's item.
Sir Clive himself however, doesn't take no for an answer. He has now produced the latest revolution in commuting, the "A" frame fold-up bike. Designed to fold up to no bigger than your average camera tripod, the Sinclair bicycle is made of carbon fibre or some such lightweight material and can be carried easily on trains or buses. Unlike conventional bicycles, the frame is disproportionate to the wheel size. The tiny trolley-like wheels make folding easy and carrying even easier.
Like the C5 before, the A frame bicycle has its drawbacks. The ungainly proportions make the cyclist look like they are cycling a piece of fencing or discarded pipeworks from the nearest development site. The size of the wheels, apart from looking silly, makes balance a more difficult feat than on normal bicycles and as such, makes the bicycle unsafe for cornering. Sinclair deserves credit for his attempts at revolutionising travel; his tenacity is commendable, however, his success rate is not. I have no doubt that a few pioneering souls will take to the Sinclair fold-up bike. However, I have less doubt that in two decades we will be buying the bicycle as a collector's item, and not a vehicle for daily commuting.
